


Dude, that's not the Great Pumpkin.

by Disasteriffic_Kaz



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst, Case Fic, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-17
Updated: 2014-04-17
Packaged: 2018-01-19 17:18:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1477717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Disasteriffic_Kaz/pseuds/Disasteriffic_Kaz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Halloween romp in the mountains of NC. Mayhem, monster and fun contained within. Set post 1x03 Dead in the Water hurt/comfort/awesome!sam/dean</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Author's Note: The initial idea for this story came from a pic Janice posted on my FB page and challenged me to use. Challenge accepted. :P The location is inspired by another pic that makes me want to hunt that place down and live there. Set in season 1 back when life was simpler and the boys just enjoyed being on the Hunt together.
> 
> Do please Review once you've read. :D Every comment and vote of support helps keep me writing. Not to mention if I've pooched anything, someone can always tell me. :P

**  
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**CHAPTER 1**

"Dude. You sure this is actually a job?" Dean glanced away from the road to his brother in the passenger seat. Sam had yet to stop pouring through the reports he'd printed off.

"Mmm hmm." Sam answered absently. "Ow!" He jumped when Dean reached over and pinched his arm. "Yes. It's a job. I'm sure you jerk."

Dean nodded and smirked. "Wouldn't be the first time you were wrong, bitch."

"I'm not wrong." Sam set the reports in his lap and looked out the window as they headed up into the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. "We've got campers and hikers terrorized by some sort of creature, weird weather occurrences in the area and three missing hikers not to mention the two hikers who made it out talking about creatures and smoke clouds that chased them." He looked over at Dean and raised his brows. "Tell me any of that doesn't sound like our sort of thing."

"You're skipping the part that makes me think 'frat prank gone wrong', Sammy." Dean stared at him for a second and then put his attention back on the road.

"Alright. Alright." Sam gusted a sigh and sat back in the seat. "The creature has a…a pumpkin for a head. I know!" He waived a hand when Dean opened his mouth. "It sounds ridiculous but dude, it's almost Halloween. Do you know how many supernatural creatures only come out this time of year? I mean, you know the Headless Horseman was based in fact so why not Pumpkinhead?"

"Because Pumpkinhead is a crappy movie with Lance Henriksen." Dean said as if that settled the subject. "Nothing with that hack in it is ever good news."

Sam chuckled and rolled his eyes. "One of these days I'm gonna figure out why you hate that guy so much."

"He aint human, Sammy." Dean shrugged happily. "Trust me. Someday we're gonna end up hunting his dramatically challenged ass."

"Dramatically challenged." Sam broke into laughter. "Dude."

Dean chuckled and reached over to turn the radio on. Sam settled back into the seat, smiling and watched the mountains grow around them. He never got tired of driving on the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was beautiful country. They had driven past Mount Pisgah many times throughout his life on the way to one job or another but this would be the first time they'd actually head off-road to climb into the mountains. Sam knew Dean's current humor was his way of deflecting from the fact he didn't want to end up camping…again. He smirked. You couldn't get Skinimax in a tent so Dean wasn't a fan.

"You know, this could end up being some Native American thing." Sam folded up the reports in his lap and shoved them down on the floor. "This whole area was Cherokee once upon a time. Mount Pisgah used to be called Elseetoss."

Dean looked over at him and shook his head with a small smile. "You're such a nerd. You know that right?"

"Bite me, Dean." Sam said with a grin and went back to watching the scenery.

A few more miles down the road Dean reached over and tapped the side of his head. "So where exactly are we going? Cause that's Mount Elsie over there." He pointed to a ridge and peak to their left.

"Elseetoss dumbass." Sam rolled his eyes. "There's an old Mill on the south face about halfway up, below the ridge." He smiled over at him. "We're gonna have to hike in."

"Awesome." Dean groaned. "Just how I wanted to spend a chilly damn weekend in the friggin mountains."

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The early afternoon sun didn't do much to warm the air beneath the dense forest where Dean and Sam walked. The air held the chill of an early winter at that altitude in the dappled light the leaves let filter through. The sounds of birds chirping happily followed them as they trekked up one ridge and down another. It was comforting; a sure sign that nothing bad was in the area. Birds and bugs tended to drop into silence when the supernatural was around. Sam held a compass in one hand and a map in the other and climbed with Dean's steady presence at his back.

"You're not getting' us lost I hope." Dean jogged up a couple steps to peer over his brother's shoulder at the map with a smirk. "Cause I hear banjo music and we're outta here."

"Dude." Sam chuckled and elbowed his stomach to back him off. He shrugged the shoulder straps of his heavy pack to more a comfortable position and pointed with the compass. "The mill should be just over this hill."

They trudged up the incline and used the trees to help pull them up. At the top they stopped and took in the view. "Dude." Dean said softly and raised his brows while Sam smiled. The 'mill' was much larger than they'd expected. It was a sprawling building in many levels as though additions had been added on haphazardly over years. Each section of the building had different colored siding that had aged darkly with time. Weathered shutters hung canted beside some of the windows that, surprisingly, still held their glass. It sat on the opposite side of a wide creek from them. A crumbling water wheel sat motionless on its side just above an ancient Beaver dam with water tumbling cheerfully over top of it. On the back of the building a single sail of an old windmill once used to power the millstones twitched gently back and forth in the breeze. The forest grew right up to and around the mill; the brown, yellow and orange leaves of fall creating a warm, colorful backdrop to frame it against the stream.

"That's beautiful." Sam breathed with a sigh.

"Hope we don't have to burn it down to kill whatever's up here." Dean said and chuckled at the crushed look on his brother's face. "Dude, you are so easy."

"Shut up." Sam rolled his eyes and started down the hill to the stream. "You know you don't wanna burn that." He waved an arm at the idyllic scene with a smile.

"Don't suppose there's a bridge somewhere on that map?" Dean asked and sighed when Sam shook his head. "Of course there's not."

"It's barely a creek man. Suck it up." Sam told him and ducked the swing Dean sent at his head with a laugh. They reached the bottom and Sam fearlessly waded into the knee deep water and shivered. "Crap that's cold."

"Suck it up, princess." Dean tossed his words back at him and followed him in. He refused to give in to the body wide shiver the water tried to set off.

Sam snorted and concentrated on keeping his footing across the rounded rocks and pebbles on the bottom of the creek. The water was crystalline and he bent, scooping up a handful and tipped it into his mouth with smile. It tasted of rain and forest and clean. He wasn't any fonder of camping than Dean was but he did love a good hike through wilderness not spoiled by man.

"Don't go native on me, sasquatch." Dean gave him a gentle shove in the back; enough to knock him off balance but not enough to drop him in the water and laughed when Sam rounded on him.

"You are such a child sometimes." Sam glared and got his balance before turning back.

"All the time." Dean said with a smirk. "Grown up's overrated."

Sam neared the base of the Mill and looked up as it towered above them. He looked back down and bent slightly to look under it. The stream passed beneath part of the mill around aging pilings gone green with moss. "Hope this place is more stable than it looks."

"Come on." Dean slapped his shoulder and started off to his left where the ground slid gently into the water beside the building. He splashed up out of the creek and studied the closely grown trees stretching through the small plateau behind the mill and up the hill beyond. "Be damn easy for something to sneak up on you here."

Sam followed him out of the water and walked along the wall of the Mill. He glanced in one of the empty frames and saw what had once been a kitchen; now devoid of furnishings save a three-legged chair and long wood stove against the back wall. He froze as he saw a shadow pass down the hall leading out of it.

"Dean." He called softly and ducked away from the window. "Something inside."

"You sure?" Dean asked quietly and moved to peer in around the edge of the window. "Don't see anything."

"Shadow on the wall in the hall." Sam tapped him and started around the far side of the building. He ducked low beneath the windows and felt Dean silently at his back as they eased around the front. The trees hugged the front of the old Mill and several times Sam had to squeeze between a trunk and the wall of the building rather than move out where he might be seen. A wide porch, settling to one side spread out from the Mill. Trees grew up through the deck as though the forest were starting to reclaim the structure.

Dean grabbed Sam's arm and pointed, waiting until he got a nod. In the center of the porch was a pile of very modern backpacks and several metal crates. He took the lead and climbed over the creaking railing and onto the weathered wood. He stepped carefully, staying against the wall until he reached the door. Voices carried softly out to them. Dean eased inside the open the doorway and down the hall beyond with Sam beside him.

Sam shrugged when Dean looked back at him. He had no idea. He couldn't imagine who might be out this far in the middle of nowhere at this time of year.

"Whoa! Dude!"

Sam jumped and spun, bringing his handgun up to bear and saw Dean's gun slide into his field of vision beside him. The man who'd come up behind them was young; Sam would be surprised if he was old enough to drink. He had blonde hair teased up in ridiculous spikes and a chain that ran from his nose to his left ear and he stared at them with wide eyes; his hands raised in the air.

"Damn! Easy Rambo…er…Rambos." The young man smiled disarmingly.

"Joey, what the hell are you doing out there?" A woman's voice called and Dean spun to watch their backs as she emerged from a door further down the hall; squeaked in surprise and jerked back out of the hall. "Oh my god they've got guns!"

"Um…Dean?" Sam lowered his weapon and quickly put it away. "I don't think they're gonna eat us."

"Gee, Sammy. Ya think?" Dean put his own gun away and rubbed a hand over his face. "What the hell'd we just walk into?"

"Are you guys gonna, like, rob us or something?" Earring boy asked and he grinned when Sam looked back at him. "Cause unless you're after beer we aint got shit."

"Awesome." Dean went to the door the woman had ran back through and turned to look in. It was a large room with three walls lined with shelves and a wide window along one wall that still had its glass. The woman cowered in a corner behind another young man; this one with dark hair down to his elbows and a beanie hat. "Hi." Dean said and snorted as they both jumped. "What the hell are you kids doing out here?"

"Hey man, we were here first." Earring boy slipped past Sam and Dean and into the room. He went to a large cooler and opened it, pulling out several beers. He tossed one to Dean who caught it reflexively. "Go make your own movie."

"Wait. Movie?" Dean stared at the three of them and looked back at Sam. "Dude, seriously. We walk into a bad horror movie?"

Sam smirked and went past him into the room. He put his hands up and smiled. "I'm sorry we scared you. We weren't expecting anyone to be up here. We're uh…forest rangers." Earring boy quirked his head to the side with a look that clearly said he wasn't buying it.

"No really." Dean popped open his beer and raised it with a little nod. "Weekend off and we figured we'd come up and see if we could find what's been scaring people."

"Who does that on their weekend off?" The girl asked and slowly eased back out from behind her friend. "I'm Cammie. This is Terry." She patted the arm of the long haired man. "And that's Joey of course."

"Cammie, Terry and Joey?" Dean smothered a laugh behind a swig of beer at the ridiculousness of their names. "Right, well. We're gonna need you kids to vacate. It's not safe up here."

"No way." Cammie suddenly found her backbone and strode up to Dean. She planted her fists on her hips and glared up at him. "You wanna find what's been killing hikers and so do we and we're going to document every moment of our search. This is our Thesis project and we're doing it. If you want to be involved I suppose we could let you but we are not going anywhere."

Dean stared down at the fiery look in her blue eyes and chuckled. "I think we're stuck with 'em, Sammy."

"You really should go back down the mountain." Sam wasn't so eager to give up. "You could get hurt or worse. Please. Let us handle it."

"No way, dude. Cammie says we stay, we stay." Joey tossed a second beer to Sam and grinned again. "Cowabunga, dude."

"Oh my god." Sam looked at the beer and scrubbed a hand through his hair. He looked over to his brother and scowled at the look of barely suppressed laughter. "This is not funny."

"Come on, man. It's a little funny." Dean shook his head. "Don't suppose any of you junior Hardy boys have bothered to search this place? Make sure it's safe." The trio of shaking heads made him sigh. "Right. Grown up work. Come on, Sam."

"Wouldn't want the college film crew to get chewed on." Sam grumbled under his breath and followed Dean out into the hall.

"Hey! Wait up! Joey, get the camera." Cammie danced out into the hall behind them, bristling with excitement. "This'll make great B-roll."

"Make sure you get my good side." Dean slapped his ass without looking around and grinned at Sam's disgusted snort.

Sam however turned and held up a hand. "No. If we find anything interesting, we'll yell." He stared down the look of rebellion on her young face. "We do not need to be looking out for you while watching our own backs. Stay here. Please." He waited while she opened and closed her mouth several times before finally she nodded stiffly.

"Fine. Whatever." Cammie turned on her heel and went back into the room.

Dean chuckled. "Way to win over the girls, tiger."

"Bite me." Sam drew his gun and pulled his flashlight out of his pocket. "We should tie them all up and drag them back down the damn mountain." He knew Dean thought he was over-reacting but he couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen to those kids. It itched and nagged at him every time he looked at them.

Dean clapped him on the shoulder. "Come on. Let's search some dusty rooms. That'll put you in a better mood."

Sam shook his head with a small smile. "Hopefully that's all we find; dust."

They followed the halls and searched a half dozen rooms going up and down short flights of stairs, sharp turns and even found one staircase that led up to a ceiling. "Starting to think we're gonna need a map of this place." Dean said ruefully and stopped to try and get his bearings.

"Well we're heading vaguely East…I think." Sam looked up and down the short hall and started off. "I think the Mill room is this way." He stopped at a junction and decided on the right, going up another flight of stairs. "At least, it should be going by what this place looked like from the outside."

"Looked like it was designed by a drunk with Lincoln Logs from the outside." Dean said and chuckled. "I'm not even sure I know which way is back." His sense of direction rarely failed him but the confusing layout of rooms, hallways and stairs was serving to disorient even him. He followed his brother up the stairs and broke into a jog as Sam turned out of his sight. "Hey! Wait up."

"Yeah, this is it!" Sam called back and pushed open one leaf of a wide double door. His flashlight penetrated the gloom; illuminating two massive, round stones laid on the floor with a wide, rough-hewn tree trunk canted haphazardly in their center up to the vaulted ceiling. He walked further into the room and could see the aging ropes and struts hanging from the ceiling that had once connected the wheels to the windmill sail outside. The ropes waved softly as his light crossed over them and he frowned, wondering why they were moving. "Must be a draft." He went to the millstones and ran a hand over them. They were covered in a heavy layer of dust and even some spots of moss had made their way in from the creek outside. He could hear the water burbling beneath the floor and caught sight of another set of doors on the other side of the room.

"Dude." Dean lurched around the doors behind him into the room. "What part of 'don't split up' did you not get?"

Sam smirked. "Getting' old and slow, big brother."

"Dude, I will toss you into the damn river." Dean growled and stopped to look up and around. "Old my ass."

Sam chuckled and walked around the stones, marveling that their weight had yet to break through the wooden floor after all these years. They must have weighed a ton each, he thought. He aimed his light back up at the ceiling. "You feel a draft in here?"

"No." Dean replied, prowling around the edges of the room. There were no windows, probably to keep whatever they once ground in the room dry. "Don't feel anything. Why?"

"Those ropes are moving." Sam waited for Dean too see them and then went for the far door once more. "Maybe the whole room's swaying slightly from being over the water?"

"That's comforting." Dean watched the ropes twitch back and forth and then gently come to a stop. "Don't think that's it." The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end; his sense of something wrong suddenly shouting at him. "Sammy…" He shouted in surprise as the floor beneath him erupted upward in a spray of wood and splinters at the same moment he dropped through.

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_To Be Continued…_


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

"Dean!" Sam sprinted back across the Mill room and dove, sliding the last few feet and just managed to catch hold of one of Dean's arms as he dropped. He grunted with the strain and pulled his head up.

"Holy crap!" Dean gasped and got his other arm out, finding purchase on the edge of the jagged hole. He had dropped into the water below and was sopping wet up to his chest. "Water's…lot deeper…under here than out there. Shit. Pull! Something just brushed my damn legs!"

Sam gritted his teeth and gave Dean's arm a strong tug until he was able to get first one leg and then the other up. Dean rolled away from the hole and Sam sucked in a relieved breath. He backed away and got to his knees. "Are you alright?"

Dean nodded and sat up. "Yeah. Nothin' hurt but my pride. You?"

Sam ran a hand down his chest and hissed in a breath. "Friggin splinters. Crap." His slide across the floor had earned him a dozen or more spots of blood down his chest and he could feel the small pieces of wood embedded there. He picked up his flashlight and shined it down into the hole warily. "Did you see anything?"

"No, dammit." Dean got to his feet, grabbed his fallen gun that had thankfully not gone in the hole with him and peered over the side. Water shone below in the light and nothing else. He shivered as the cold ate its way into his legs.

Sam got to his feet and pulled irritably at his shirt; it was stuck to his chest with the splinters. "Haven't even seen it yet and already I'm pissed at it."

Dean chuckled. "Come on, porcupine. Let's go get you cleaned up and make sure the kids are still breathin." He pulled Sam's arm. "Gun."

Sam knelt and recovered his gun. He backed across the room with Dean; his eyes riveted on the hole in case whatever had tried to get Dean made a reappearance. They reached the doors in peace and Dean pulled them closed. He picked up a stray piece of wood from the floor and wedged it through the handles with a shrug.

"That won't keep a fly in there." Sam observed with a chuckle.

"Best I can do." Dean led the way back down the stairs. At each junction he had to stop and think; sometimes letting Sam point him the right way and others finding it himself. It took them twice as long to reach the front of the Mill again and they could hear pop music playing through the hall. "Man, at least they could play some real tunes; not that poppy crap."

Sam chuckled. "You could always go back to the car. Get the Mullet Rock box."

Dean cuffed the back of his head. "Don't knock my music."

"Hey dudes. You find…whoa." Joey strode into the hall and then stopped mid-sentence to stare at Sam's chest and Dean's dripping legs. "What the hell happened to you two?"

"Watch where you walk." Dean said simply and took Sam's arm, ushering him past the surfer-wannabe and into the front room. He turned him and tugged the pack off his back while Cammie and Terry stared at Sam's blood spotted shirt.

"Weak spot in the floor." Sam told them and winced as he had to move his arms back so Dean could remove the pack.

"Geez. Ow." Terry came over and bent for a closer look.

"Personal space, man." Sam tapped Terry's beanie covered head.

Terry looked up at him with a smile. "I study nursing in addition to cinematography." He looked over and gave Sam a gentle push toward the beer cooler. "Sit."

"I got this." Dean said firmly and moved Terry aside. He didn't know the kids and innocent or not, he didn't trust them with his brother.

Sam shoved the cooler over by the window with his foot and sat so Dean would have the best light. "This is gonna suck." He said and shrugged the jacket and flannel off his arms before taking hold of the front of his t-shirt.

"Like a Band-Aid, Sammy." Dean told him and knelt with their first aid kit. He fished around and came up with a pair of tweezers and looked up in time to watch Sam yank the shirt out.

"Crap!" Sam gasped as the cotton material pulled some of the splinters free to fall to the floor. He pulled it over his head and groaned.

Dean chuckled and then looked over when he heard a loud sigh. Cammie was staring at Sam's bared upper body with a look that could only be described as hunger.

"Whoa." Cammie breathed and then blushed furiously; seeing Dean grinning at her.

"Think you got a fan, tiger." Dean slapped his brother's arm and bent in to study the damage while Sam turned red himself with embarrassment.

"Shut up." Sam glared as well as he could and surveyed his chest. He reached down and took hold of one of the larger splinters; gave it a quick tug and pulled it out with a grunt.

Dean let him pull the larger, more obvious ones and went after the smaller with the tweezers. "This one's gonna hurt." He could see one that had gone in and splayed beneath the skin; fanning out. He had to dig to get all of it and Sam was biting his lower lip when he finally removed all of it. In all, Dean removed seventeen splinters from his brother's chest and Sam muttered a 'thank god' when Dean declared the all clear.

"Last time I slide in to first to save your ass." Sam said with a smirk and took the pad Dean soaked with alcohol from him. He ran it over the bleeding wounds himself and tried not to notice Cammie, off in the corner who had simply watched the whole process with a dazed look.

"Yeah, she's drooling." Dean smothered a laugh and stood. He went to Sam's pack and pulled out his spare shirt. "Here." He tossed it to him and then looked over at Cammie. "You should probably breathe now."

"Huh? Oh…oh man." Cammie buried her face in her hands and looked back up with an awkward smile. "I'm gonna…uh…outside. Joey, grab the camera." She made a hasty exit and Terry and Joey both followed her with a laugh.

Joey stopped to waggle his brows at Dean. "Dude, if I swung that way I'd be droolin' too. Dayum."

Dean barked a laugh as they left and ducked the balled up, bloody shirt Sam threw at his head. "Shut up, Dean." Sam rolled his eyes and pulled the clean shirt on, anxious to not be on display anymore. "That thing, whatever the hell it is, is still out there." He pointed down. "Or under the damn floors. We have got to get those kids out of here."

Dean nodded. "I know. We will." He rolled his eyes. "We'll try anyway. I don't think drooly-chick is going anywhere without a fight."

Sam stood and pulled his jacket off the floor, pulling it back on. "We should round them back up."

"Yeah." Dean stepped out into the hall and frowned. They were nowhere in sight. "Aw come on. Cammie? Surfer boy?" He called and heard an answer from outside. "Dammit."

"We have to get out there." Sam's sense of impending danger had returned. He dove into his pack and pulled out the sawed off shotgun. "Come on." He ran past Dean and headed outside.

"Hang on!" Dean jogged behind him. "What's going on, Sam?"

Sam shook his head and ran outside, sliding to a stop on the uneven wood of the porch. Cammie and Joey stood twenty meters or so off in the trees but Terry was nowhere in sight. "Guys. Back inside." Sam jumped down off the deck and ran out to them, his eyes scanning through the dense trees. "Where's…what was his name? Terry."

"Getting some B-roll over there." Cammie waved a hand and stared open-mouthed at the shotgun. "What…are you going to do with that?"

"Get back inside." Sam took her arm and pulled her behind him, handing her off to Dean. "Joey. Go with them. I'll find Terry."

"Watch your back." Dean made them go at a quick walk, chivvying them faster. He didn't know what had put that looks on Sam's face but he trusted his brother's instincts. "Go dammit."

"What's happening?" Joey looked back over his shoulder and kept a hand on Cammie's shoulder as they reached the mill.

"Maybe nothing." Dean pushed them both inside. "Maybe something. It's not safe up here, remember? Stay put."

"Terry!" Sam called, following the general direction Cammie had indicated into the trees. He was heading slightly uphill toward the ridge and stopped. Crossing the moist earth at his feet were two sets of tracks. One the obvious print of the combat boots he had seen Terry wearing earlier. The other followed along beside the boot prints but was nothing he recognized. Sam knelt and ran his fingers around the edge of the print. He rose and started forward again. "Terry? Answer me!"

He followed the tracks further into the trees and sighed when he came upon a camera lying among the brightly colored leaves on the ground. "Crap." Sam bent and scooped it up, looking out into the forest. "Terry?"

"Sam!" Dean finally saw him and ran to catch up with him. "You find him?" Sam wordlessly handed the camera to his brother. "Well that doesn't bode well." The first niggle of guilt ate its way into Dean's stomach.

"Got tracks." Sam nodded to the ground.

"What the hell possesses kids like that to walk into shit like this?" Dean growled and took the lead further into the forest and up the hill. They went wide around a boulder and on the other side Sam gave a sad sigh.

"Ah hell." Sam bent and gingerly picked up Terry's beanie hat from the shadow of the rock. It was wet and he knew by the feel of it in his fingers that it was blood, not water. "We're too late."

"Yeah. Ok." Dean waved a hand back the way they'd come. "Let's see if we can keep the other two idiots alive. Go."

Sam nodded and kept the hat. He figured the guys friends would need some physical proof that he was lost to them. "We didn't even hear anything." He said quietly as they quickly retraced their steps. "He didn't even scream."

"I know." Dean's senses were tuned to the forest around them so he noticed the moment the birds stopped singing. "Sam?"

"I hear it." Sam stopped alongside him and listened to the unnerving silence that had descended upon them. "Split up?"

"No way." Dean shook his head. "Stay together. It's picking us off one by one." He started forward again and kept Sam at his side. "I don't like this." They broke into a jog as the mill came into view through the trees.

Sam could almost feel something at their backs and looked over his shoulder several times as they reached the building and jumped up to the deck. He slowed and looked back out through the trees. "Something's out there."

"No shit. Move." Dean pulled his arm and shoved him toward the closed door. Dean slammed it shut once they were inside and found Cammie and Joey huddled together in the hall beyond.

"Oh my god." Cammie's eyes widened. "What…is that…" She stared at the bloody beanie in Sam's hand. She looked up to find a grim sorrow on his face. "Terry?"

Sam shook his head. "I'm sorry."

"Oh god!" Cammie dissolved into tears and turned, burying her face in Joey's chest.

"Dude. Is he really…is he dead?" Joey asked softly and shook his head. "This is messed up."

"We need to find a better place to hole up." Dean ushered them into the front room where their packs were. "Grab your gear."

"What are you thinking?" Sam went and retrieved his pack, sliding it onto his shoulder. He laid Terry's beanie on the windowsill gently with a silent apology.

"Kitchen." Dean picked his own pack up. "Only the one window and it's on solid ground. Damn thing can't come up at us through the floor."

"The floor?" Joey froze in the act of handing Cammie her backpack. "Holy shit, man."

"Oh god. Oh god!" Cammie began to shake again. "We're gonna die here."

"Hey. Hey." Dean went and put a hand on her shoulder. "We're gonna be fine as long as we stay calm."

"We're all gonna die up here!" Cammie sobbed and threw herself at Dean, plastering herself to his chest.

"No, we're not." Dean patted her back awkwardly. "You wanna…take over here?" He asked Joey and got a solemn nod.

"Yeah. I got her. Come on, Cammie. Cammie." Joey pried her arms loose from Dean and wrapped an arm over her shoulders. He looked up to Dean sadly. "This sucks, dude."

"Usually." Dean nodded. He went over and pulled up Joey and Cammie's pack, hefting them in one hand. "We need to move." He ushered them both out the door.

"Dean…" Sam took a single step away from the window and shouted in surprise as something looped around his neck.

"Sam!" Dean watched something long and thin whip in through the empty window, wrap around his brother's neck and pull him bodily out of sight. He dropped the backs and grabbed his shotgun at a run. He threw a leg over the frame and saw Sam dozens of feet away being pulled toward the tree line, struggling all the way. "Sammy!" Terry's bloody beanie seemed to mock him from the sill and Dean leaped outside and took off at a run after his brother. He sprinted in an effort to keep Sam's flailing legs in sight as the trees grew more closely together.

Sam managed to raise his head a few times and saw Dean racing behind, trying to catch him up. His face was a study in fury. Sam hoped that look was never directed at him. He'd seen it many times throughout his life and the subject of that fury never came out well. The thing around his neck tugged harder, cutting off his air and forcing his head to thump into the ground as he was dragged. He curled the fingers of one hand around it to try and give himself room to breathe. With his other hand he struggled to reach the knife sheathed at his back. Roots and rocks thumped into his back and shoulders, singing pain along his spine. He shifted, throwing his hips to one side and finally got room enough to wrap his hand around the hilt and yank it free. His vision was beginning to darken, his lungs to strain with the need for air. He reached behind his head with the blade. It took several tries to connect with whatever held him and at last he managed to lodge the knife into it and sever it. Sam rolled several feet with the sudden shift of momentum and he scrabbled to remove the thing from his throat. It was some sort of root or vine and at last he sucked in a wheezing breath as the darkness slowly cleared from his vision.

"Sammy!" Dean had watched as Sam pulled the knife free. He'd seen it glint it in the fading afternoon light and silently urged him to hurry. He saw Sam cut through and roll into the leaves and Dean slid to a stop beside him. He dropped to his knees and pushed Sam over to his back with one hand, keeping his shotgun up in the direction Sam had been pulled. "You ok?"

Sam nodded quickly, incapable of speech still as he heaved gales of air in and out. "See it?" He said finally in a voice hoarse and scratchy through his abused throat.

Dean shook his head. "No." He stood and took a step away. He reared back in surprise as the creature rose up beyond the trees a mere ten meters away. "Holy…shit." It's body looked like the gnarled trunk of a twisted tree. Lithe roots whipped and twisted around it like myriad arms searching for prey but it was the head that left him speechless. It was a massive pumpkin with a macabre caricature of a human face. Flames burned inside of it and boiled out through a gap at the top. As he watched the carved eyes narrowed in anger. "Uh uh." Dean raised the gun and fired into the pumpkin's face. It roared with rage. He fired again and took a step closer. The creature shook with each blast as chunks of its 'head' spun off into the trees and it fled.

"Was that…" Sam had regained his feet and limped up beside his brother, eyes wide.

"Dude. Pumpkinhead." Dean shook his head slowly in disbelief. "That…was a friggin pumpkinhead! What the hell?"

"I really saw that." Sam rubbed a hand over his neck and stared. "This isn't hypoxia screwing with me, right?"

"Shit." Dean turned and grabbed Sam's chin, lifting his head. He scowled. Bruises ringed Sam's throat, quickly darkening as he watched. "Anywhere else?"

"Just banged up I think." Sam pulled his eyes away from where the creature had stood finally. "We need to get back. Those kids are helpless."

"We are so screwed." Dean took his arm and turned him, keeping his grip as they walked and scanning the forest for the impossible monster. "How the hell do we kill a Pumpkinhead?"

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_To Be Continued…_


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3**

They trudged back through the forest, ever sense on alert for a return of the creature. Each creek of the tree limbs, each snap of a twig or rustle of the turning leaves on the ground, every sigh and whisper of the chilly October wind made them stop and wait on edge. Sam rubbed at his throat and wondered if the bruises were as bad as he thought, given the way Dean kept glaring at them. He smirked; probably not as bad as Dean thought they were.

"Stop lookin' at me." Dean growled and flipped his brother the finger when he chuckled. "You got a way to kill that thing in that massive geek brain of yours?"

"Gee no. Left my obscure monster killing library in my other pants." Sam rolled his eyes. "I'll figure it out."

Dean laughed and breathed a small sigh as the aging mill once more came into view. He spun back to the forest with a loud crack behind them, gun raised. "Is that bitch following us?"

Sam shrugged. "You did shoot it in the face. Probably pissed it off." He looked over and smiled when Dean glared at him. "Well you piss me off too."

"You know I'm kickin' your ass, right?" Dean reached out and gave his chest a shove toward the mill.

"Crap." Sam hunched forward with the burn from the wounds left by the splinters. That motion pulled the many bruises he could feel on his back from his trip through the forest and he groaned. "Not cool, dude."

Dean snorted and subtly moved between him and the trees. "Quit your whining and move your ass inside." He ignored whatever Sam muttered at him and followed him back toward the mill, stepping up to the deck with him and all the while keeping his eyes riveted to the woods and the slope of the mountain above them. The creature was still around. He could sense it even if he couldn't see it.

Sam straightened, turned and froze as his eyes climbed up the varied levels of wall and window to the uneven roof. "Dean." He whispered it. The Pumpkinhead was just visible on the roof behind one of the many chimneys. It's eyes glowed but what worried Sam were the many tendrils hanging down from the roof and swaying slightly against the walls as though waiting for unsuspecting prey.

"Son of a bitch." Dean said under his breath.

"We can't just leave those kids in there alone." Sam nodded to the building. "So, run for it?"

"This is not a plan." Dean braced himself to sprint into the mill and glared up at the creature waiting for them. "We need to make better damn plans." He cocked the shotgun and broke into a run. As they drew even with the door the creature's roots all shivered in anticipation and drew closer. Dean fired the shotgun up into them. He let himself thump into the frame of the door to stop and grabbed Sam with his free hand, tossing him through first before he followed. There was no way he was letting that thing have another go at hanging his brother if he could help it.

"Kitchen." Sam said breathlessly and hoped that's where they would find the kids. He and Dean both stopped briefly to grab their abandoned backpacks from the front room. They darted in and back out as roots whipped into the window.

"Move it, Sam." Dean fired another round of rock salt into the open window and then followed Sam at a run down the hall and further inside looking for the kitchen. For a moment they could hear the Pumpkinhead moving above them on the roof and then all went silent.

"How the hell are we gonna keep those kids alive?" Sam asked softly.

"What do you mean keep us alive?" Joey asked as he came around a corner and made both men jump in surprise.

"Shit, Joey." Dean lowered the shotgun and gave himself a shake. He'd almost loosed both barrels into him. "I mean big ugly out there's gonna come in for us eventually and we don't know how to gank the thing yet."

Joey stared at them and then shook himself. "Uh…kitchen's back here dudes."

Sam and Dean followed him down the hall and to a doorway lit with a warm, orange glow. Sam smiled at Cammie as they came in. She was hovering over the stove and the small fire she'd built there. "I was thinking…build a fire and, you know, maybe it…whatever it is, can't come down the chimney?" She pointed at the flue above it.

"That was good thinking." Sam told her and patted her shoulder.

Dean went to the one window and nodded. Someone, Joey he figured, had managed to wrestle the shutters closed and dragged an empty cabinet in front of it. "No one goes near the window." He turned back and waited until he got nods from Cammie and Joey.

"Are you ok, dude?" Joey stared at Sam's neck in the firelight, his eyes going wide at the sight of the livid bruises.

Dean went to him and brushed leaves from his brother's back. "How bad is it?" He bent in and scowled. "You breathin' ok?"

Sam nodded. "I'm fine. Throat's sore but I'm good."

"Uh huh." Dean studied the marks and stared at him. "You start having trouble, no bullshit Sammy. You tell me." Like any Hunter who'd been around as long as they had, he was all too aware that swelling could sometimes cause problems long after the initial injury when it came to be strangled.

"Dude. Bigger problems." Sam gestured at the teens and the mill in general. "You watched that movie. How did they kill the thing? Might give us a frame of reference."

Dean shrugged and sighed. "They uh…well they didn't really."

"Wait. What movie?" Cammie stared between them. "What the hell is out there? What killed Terri?" Her voice rose with each question and she shuddered, closing her eyes when Joey draped an arm over her shoulders.

"It's…difficult to explain." Sam patted her shoulder. "You two should stay here by the fire. Dean?" He motioned him toward the hall and led the way. Once outside Sam lowered his voice. "Dude, we can't tell them a movie monster is out there trying to kill us. They'll freak."

"Well, what the hell, Sam?" Dean threw his arms up. "They're gonna see it eventually when it comes after them." He scrubbed a hand over his face. "Ok look. In the movie this thing's tied to someone. It has to be summoned and the only way to put it down is to kill the person it's attached to."

"So, assuming all that's based in fact since the creature obviously is…how in hell do we figure out who it's tethered to?" Sam groaned and rubbed a hand over his throat. "Has to be a way to stop it without killing someone, Dean."

Dean sighed sadly. "We'll try man but…" He trailed off. They knew so little about the creature, nothing in fact beyond what Dean had seen in a cheesy horror flick, he just couldn't make himself promise Sam they wouldn't be killing one innocent to save more no matter how much he wished he could.

"I know." Sam's voice was resigned. He cleared his aching throat and nodded. "We should make sure it's not coming in after us. Maybe we can barricade this hall; keep them safe while we deal with it."

"Wonder if it's still on the roof." Dean stuck his head back in the kitchen. "We're gonna check the hall. You two stay in here. Understand? No field trips or bad things will happen."

"Don't worry man." Joey said earnestly and tightened his arm around Cammie's shaking shoulders. "We're not going anywhere."

Dean went back out and started down the hall. "You know, in the movie, this thing only killed people who'd wronged the poor idiot tied to it."

"Since when are creatures that picky?" Sam looked quickly into a room as they passed and moved on. "In real life it probably doesn't much care as long as it gets to eat."

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Cammie shrank into Joey's shoulder as something scraped along the outside wall of the kitchen. "What is that?"

"Tree branch or something." Joey said and smiled for her. "Nothing to worry about. We're safe in here."

"You don't know that." Cammie insisted. Terri's death had shaken her. She couldn't believe he was just…gone. She could still the blood on his hat in the tall brother's hand and it made her shudder. "Oh god."

"Calm down, Cammie." Joey rubbed her shoulder. "You're gonna be fine." He set her closer to the fire. "Pretty sure those guys can kick some ass." He smirked.

"It strangled Sam." Cammie reminded him. "Did you see his neck? It's like he shouldn't be alive I mean those bruises…" She trailed off and closed her eyes. "I wish we'd never come up here."

Joey rolled his eyes but placed a comforting hand on her shoulder again. "We just gotta stay calm. That's all. We'll be fine."

Cammie smothered a scream behind her hands as the scratching came again but this time at the blocked window.

"Shit!" Joey ran to the window and pushed the cabinet more firmly against it as the sounds became louder and more insistent.

Cammie cowered by the stove. Her hands over mouth were all that kept her from screaming and hyperventilating in terror. She watched Joey hold the cabinet as it rocked and one of the shutters behind it rattled. She turned her head slowly as new sounds came to her. Her eyes widened in horror as she realized they were coming from inside the mill. She stared at the black maw of the open door hearing the uneven thump-thump and another sound as if something was dragging itself down the hall to them.

"Oh god." Cammie breathed. She dove for her backpack and rifled through it in a panic as the sound drew closer. It was coming for them; for her. Her hand closed around what she wanted. She lurched up to the side of the door while Joey cursed and struggled to hold the cabinet in place and she waited. The thumping, dragging sound drew nearer and nearer. Each moment seemed to take forever and drag across her nerves until finally she knew it was just outside the door. Cammie sucked in a breath, pulled up what little courage she had left and spun into the door, leading with the Taser in her hand as she activated it and shouted out her fear.

Sam had only a brief glimpse of Cammie's terror struck face before something sharp pressed into his stomach and his body began to jerk as though electrocuted. He dropped like a stone; the wood planks he had been dragging falling to the floor with him in a clatter.

"What the hell?" Dean shouted as he watched Sam crumple in front of him and stared as his brother twitched and jerked on the floor while Cammie stood silhouetted in the door. "What the hell did you do? Who brings a Taser into the damn forest?" He stepped over Sam's twitching limbs and knocked the Taser from her hand before dropping beside his brother. "Sammy?"

"Oh god. Oh my god!" Cammie covered her face in horror and backed away. "I didn't mean to. Oh my god I didn't…I'm sorry!"

"Cammie?" Joey came up beside her and stared in shock. "Damn, Cammie. When you jump wrong you really jump wrong. He ok?" He asked Dean but got no response.

Dean's full attention was on Sam as the spasms gradually died away to leave him lying still. "Sam? Come on, little brother." He rolled him to his back and lifted him up so he was sitting against his shoulder. "Sammy." The Taser had knocked him cold. Dean pulled Sam's shirts up and saw the burn marks from the device just below his heart. She'd managed to find one of the few un-bandaged spots on Sam's chest. He turned to glare up at the girl with barely restrained rage. "What the hell is wrong with you? You could have killed him!"

"Calm, dude." Joey moved Cammie back a fraction, sensing danger. "She wasn't thinking straight." He jumped as the window rattled again. "Aw man, come on!" He set Cammie back a step. "You think you can _not_ zap anyone while I deal with the window?" Cammie gave him a silent nod and he went back to holding the cabinet in place.

Dean shook Sam lightly and sighed with relief when Sam groaned. "Wakey wakey, Sammy." He tugged his brother's shirts back down and tapped his cheek to get his attention. "Sam? Any time."

"Guh…Dean?" Sam opened his eyes and moaned. His body felt like he'd been hit by a truck. Every muscle ached and his head felt fuzzy. "Wha' hit me?"

"College girl Tased your gigantor ass." Dean shifted him up further. "You stand yet?"

Sam nodded wearily though he really wanted to curl up on the floor and go to sleep. He let Dean stand and pull him up, grateful for the hands on his arms holding him steady as he swayed. "That…sucked."

Dean waited until he was steadier and steered him into the kitchen. "Could'a been worse." He smirked. "Least it didn't make you pee your pants."

"Dude. Not funny." Sam rolled his eyes and hobbled like an old man into the kitchen as his muscles re-learned how to move properly. He kicked the Taser on the floor and didn't quite manage to stop the angry look at Cammie.

Dean snorted. "Just stay here a sec." He let Sam hunch over the counter on his arms, concerned when he dropped his head to hang between his shoulders. He patted his back and went to the window. "How long's this been goin' on?" Dean asked Joey and tried to peek around the cabinet at the window.

"Few minutes." Joey grunted with the effort of keeping it in place. "Do I wanna know what's trying to get in?"

Dean looked sideways at him and shrugged. "Probably not." As suddenly as it had started, it stopped. The shutters went silent and both men backed away from the cabinet slowly. "I hate when they do that."

"What? It stopped! That's good right?" Joey asked, trying to smile.

"Usually means they figured out something worse to do." Sam said hoarsely and straightened.

"Yep." Dean glared at the window and went to his brother. "We gotta figure out who this thing's tied to. Now."

Sam nodded and looked at the two college students with a little frown. "Hey, who's idea was it to come up here and film this?" He looked between them. "I mean, someone had to convince you this was film worthy and to come up here instead of partying on Halloween." The last few words left his mouth more softly than he meant them too and sounded pained even to his ears; the image of Jess last Halloween suddenly clear in his mind. He shook himself when he felt Dean take his arm. "Why'd you come up here?"

"Oh well, Cammie talked me into it." Joey shrugged and looked over at her.

"I suppose it was my idea as much as Terri's." Cammi hugged herself and looked anywhere but Sam's face. She wasn't able to meet his eyes just yet after shocking him unconscious. "We wanted to do something different. Our professor suggested looking into urban legends."

"Ok so that's a dead end." Dean sighed.

"Why does it matter?" Cammie asked and flinched when he stared at her, remembering the look that had been on his face a short time ago as he stood over his brother.

"To be honest, honey I don't think you can take the explanation." Dean shrugged and turned away from her. "Not without screaming anyway and I don't wanna hear it right now."

"You're being an ass." Sam said softly and smirked.

"I know." Dean grinned and gave him a long look. "Any other bright ideas, college boy?"

"Nope." Sam rubbed a hand over the burn marks on his chest ruefully. "But the shine has worn off this job for me."

Dean chuckled and then sobered. "Maybe we can just hack the thing up and bury it til we find a way to gank it." He had run through the plot of the movie he'd seen in his head and come up with nothing but killing the creature's human link. "Gotta be an axe around here somewhere."

"Millstone room." Sam nodded. "I saw one on the floor by the wall before…before you fell through the floor."

Dean smirked, knowing Sam was editing to keep the other two from panicking. "Right. Ok. Plan." He turned back to them. "You're gonna stay here. I'm gonna go after the axe. Sam'll keep you safe."

"No way, Dean." Sam said loudly and punched his shoulder. "You're not going back in there alone. I'm coming."

"Sam…" Dean scowled at him, intending to order him to stay but didn't have the chance as the shutters were suddenly ripped from the window. The cabinet rocked once and was thrown into the room. It slapped into Dean and Sam, knocking them backward into the counter and the stove as Joey threw himself at Cammie to get her out of the way. Dean groaned and pushed at the sturdy cabinet as Cammie's screams echoed in his ears.

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_To Be Continued…_


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 4**

"Dean?" Sam looked over and saw his brother just beside him, trying to move the cabinet off of them. "You ok?"

"Think so." Dean heaved again, growling with the effort. It felt as if something was holding it in place. "You?"

"This is not my best day ever." Sam squirmed and tried to find room to move. He frowned as he felt heat growing along his left side. He turned his head and his eyes widened. "Dean? Shit. Not good." He pushed at the cabinet with renewed fervor.

"What?" Dean glanced to him and saw the unmistakable light of the flames from the fire flickering on Sam's other side. "Son of a bitch!" He braced both arms on the cabinet and distantly noted that Cammie's screams had stopped and there was only silence. This time the cabinet shifted and tumbled from them to the floor.

"Ow. Ow. Ow." Sam scrambled off the counter and stumbled to the floor, batting out the left side of his jacket.

Dean surveyed the room and stared. The frame of the window was torn out from the outside and Joey sat on the floor a few feet away in a puddle of blood with a dazed look on his face. The blood trailed off toward the window. "Sammy, you good?"

"Yeah." Sam leaned back against the counter and took a moment to let his head reorient. He'd hit the wall harder than he liked and his vision was blurry, refusing to focus.

"Joey." Dean knelt by him and scanned the young man. "Any of this yours?" Joey kept staring out the window. Dean took his shoulder and gave him a shake. "Hey! You hurt? What happened to Cammie?"

Joey turned his head slowly to look at Dean with glassy eyes. "I…I tried." He said softly. "I tried to hold on to her. I swear I did but…but it was just…it was too strong. It took her and there was…blood. Oh god." His eyes brimmed with tears. "What was that thing?"

Dean sighed. "Nothing you could have stopped. Come on. Up." Dean pulled on his arm and dragged him off the floor. The movement made his back protest and he groaned softly. He'd met the wall hard and was going to pay for it later. He shoved the unresponsive man out into the hall. "Stay there. Be quiet. It could still be out there." Joey nodded once and stared at the floor.

"Hey, Sam." Dean knelt beside his brother, keeping himself between Sam and the window. "I notice you're not standing up yet. Takin' a break?"

Sam smirked and squeezed his eyes shut. "Uh…yeah."

"Right." Dean pulled his head forward and ran a hand over the back through his shaggy hair. "Got a knot the size of a golfball back here, tiger. How's your vision?"

"Well." Sam looked up at him ruefully. "Both of you are in focus so…improvement."

Dean snorted and took his shoulders. "Ok we gotta get out of here. Come on."

"Cammie?" Sam peered past him toward the window.

Dean shook his head and got him standing albeit unsteadily. "Sorry, Sammy. It got her." He steered Sam in a wavering line toward the hall. "We gotta get out of this room. Find somewhere to stash Joey while we deal with this bitch."

"You're not stashing me anywhere, dude." Joey said softly as they reached him in the hall. "It killed my friends." He straightened his shoulders and met Dean's stern gaze. "I want a piece of this thing."

"You're gonna find somewhere cozy to hole up." Dean said sternly. "You come with us the only thing we're gonna be doing is watching your ass." He stared down the rebellious look in the surfer's eyes. "You'll get us killed."

"Dean." Sam shook his head slightly. "Go easy." He reached a hand out to Joey's shoulder as they drew even with him. "I'm sorry about Cammie, man. Really."

Joey nodded and closed his mouth in a tight line. He gave a quick glare to Dean but stepped under Sam's other shoulder to help keep him moving. "I'm not useless." He said under his breath. "There's a store room down that hall on the left." Joey waved a hand. "No windows."

"Ok. That'll work." Dean hitched Sam's arm higher on his shoulders when his brother's head began to droop. "Sammy? No takin' a nap."

"M'good." Sam jerked his head back up and blinked furiously. He was still seeing double and fought the dizziness to keep walking.

Dean snorted. "Ok Captain Pythagoras. You wanna try for that straight line again 'cause…that wasn't even close." He chuckled at Sam's attempt to prove how 'good' he was and the failure as Dean felt him weaving one way and the other under his arm.

"I just…need a minute." Sam stumbled a stop as Joey ducked away and opened a door in the hall. He let Dean lead him in and sighed with relief when his brother lowered him to sit on an aging crate. He dropped his head down into his hands and waited for the spinning to stop.

"You watch him." Dean pointed a stern finger at Joey. "I'm gonna get our packs."

Joey nodded as Dean ducked out the door and knelt in front of Sam. "Hey. You don't look so good dude."

Sam snorted. "I've had better days." He raised his head and met Joey's sad eyes with a smile. "I'm fine, man. We'll get you out of here."

"But not Cammie." Joey said softly and stood to go lean on the back wall of the room.

Sam sighed. He had no answer for that. The pounding in his head was starting to recede and his vision to clear. He stood slowly and tested out his balance, happy when the floor didn't move.

"What…what are you gonna do?" Joey asked, watching Sam find his bearings.

"We're going to kill it." Sam said simply. He shrugged. "That's what we do."

"How's your melon?" Dean asked as he came back into the small room, eyes steady on his brother and smiled when clearer eyes rose to meet his.

"Better." Sam nodded. "Let's get this thing."

Dean set their packs down and pulled out the shotgun, a pistol, two large knives and flashlights. "We're gonna head to the mill stone room. Surfer boy? Get comfy." Dean grinned at the angry face the young man gave him and passed weapons to Sam. "We'll come get you when it's done. Do not leave this room. You hear me?" He waited and scowled. "Hey! Unless you wanna end up dead like your friends you stay here. You let us take care of this."

"Fine." Joey seemed to deflate and slid down the wall until he was sitting. "Good luck."

"Time to kick some pumpkin ass, Sammy." Dean said fervently and led him back out, closing the door firmly behind them.

"I really wish we knew who it was tethered too." Sam shook his head.

"One problem at a time. Let's get fugly tucked away in pieces and then we'll figure out who's pulling the strings."

They made their way quickly through the structure, retracing their steps from earlier and finally stood outside the double doors with the Mill stone room beyond. Dean slid out the piece of wood he'd locked the doors with earlier and listened with his ear to the door.

"Don't hear anything." Dean whispered. He eased one leaf open and stepped soundlessly inside with Sam at his back. "Where was the axe?"

"Over there." Sam nudged him toward the center of the room. "Up on the stones." Dean jogged quickly across the floor and hopped up. "The floor's reinforced here. It'll have to come in if it wants us."

"Right." Dean smiled, liking that idea. He shined the flashlight where Sam had pointed and saw the Axe lying on the floor near a wall. He took a deep breath and sprinted off the stones and across the room. He grabbed the haft of the large axe and was back on the stones beside Sam in seconds. "How you wanna let grumpy know we're here?"

Sam spun hearing a soft scratching sound on the floor on the other side of the room. "Don't think we need to." He drew the knife from his back and took a step back into Dean as several roots erupted up through the floor a few feet away.

Dean took a shot at them, aiming below the floor and was rewarded with an unearthly growl of rage. He chuckled. "Yep. It knows we're here." The roots jerked back out of sight. They burst through the floor again on the other side of the large room. Dean fired at them again.

"Sooner or later it's gonna get pissed enough to come in." Sam said calmly. He watched the floor in the beam of Dean's flashlight for the next intrusion. A startled yelp escaped him as the massive stones they stood on rocked suddenly.

"Uh…Sammy?" Dean swayed to keep his balance. "Just how reinforced is the floor here?"

"It'll hold." Sam said and met his brother's eyes with a half-smile. "I hope."

"Awesome." Dean rolled his eyes and then stomped his feet on the stones. "Come on you bastard! Come and get it!"

Sam chuckled. "Subtle, Dean." The noise stopped and the stones settled. Silence fell into the room and made both men nervous. "What's it doing?"

"How the hell should I know?" Dean swung his light around the room, searching the floor for any new sign. The sound of running water came clearly up through the several new holes in the floor boards but other than that there was nothing. "Well crap. Maybe it's figured out we want it in here."

A creaking sound broke the silence. Sam looked up to the ceiling high above, his mouth opening in surprise. "Oh crap."

The ceiling gave way and the Pumpkinhead creature dropped through, crashing down into the millstones where they stood. Root like limbs whipped and sent both men tumbling away. Sam rolled to a stop on the floor with his head spinning, protesting the continued abuse and for a moment could only stare up at the wrecked roof and try to catch his breath.

"Shit! Sammy?" Dean rolled to his feet and lurched back as the creature sent a root to whip out toward him. He ducked, dodging away but was too slow to avoid the second hit. Roots scythed through the air while the creature stood atop the stones and howled its anger at them. Dean grunted and went to his knees as another limb sliced across his back leaving a trail of fire in its wake. He'd lost the axe when he fell and searched for it vainly. Another root slapped into him and knocked him forward. He couldn't swallow the sharp cry as his back was lashed.

Sam groaned in a breath and rolled to his side. It took only a second to realize the dire strait his brother was in; face down on the floor with the Pumpkinhead whipping his back mercilessly. He pulled himself to his feet and saw the axe only a foot away. He took it up and threw caution to the wind. Sam ran at the creature's unprotected back and swung the axe down in an arc. The Pumpkinhead lurched to the side, saving its head but not its left arm. Sam hacked it off to flop on the floor. He pulled the axe back for another swing and all the air left his lungs in a whoosh as the creature's remaining arm slammed into his stomach and threw him across the room. He felt himself hit the wall and slide down and darkness crept across his vision.

"Sam!" Dean watched his brother land in a boneless heap against the wall and let the rage overtake him. He pulled the pistol from his back and emptied the clip into the Pumpkinhead's face when it turned back to him. Dean ran to Sam, skidding to a stop in front of him and planted himself between him and the monster as it began to stalk across the mill room toward them. The flames burned brighter inside its hollow head, leaping and crackling out through the holes of its eyes. It teased him, sending roots to whip toward him and away; barely touching but making sure he felt the wind of their passing. It knew it had them. "Come on!" Dean shouted angrily.

"Hey!"

Dean whipped his head toward the door in surprise and saw Joey standing there. "Get out of here you idiot! Run!"

Joey ignored him and darted inside instead. He'd seen Sam lose his grip on the axe and where it had fallen. He scooped it up from the floor. "Dean!" He shouted and slid the axe across to the floor to him.

Dean dove and came up with the weapon. He jumped to his feet, ignoring the pain screaming along his back, ducked beneath another sweep of roots and gave a growling cry as he swung the axe in an arc. It bit into the side of the Pumpkinhead's neck and then through it in a smooth motion. The macabre head fell from the creature's shoulders to roll across the floor and stop against the mill stones.

"Check him." Dean pointed to Sam and walked cautiously around the monster's body to check on the head.

Joey inched into the room and along the wall until he was beside Sam. He knelt by the fallen Hunter and put a hand to his neck. "He's uh…he's alive. I think."

Dean kicked the head, not liking that the flames inside the gourd had not yet died. He backed away and returned to his brother and Joey. "Sammy?" Dean dropped beside him and palmed his brother's face, turning it toward him. He sighed. "Swear man. Next job I'm wrapping your head in friggin bubble wrap."

"It's…it's still twitching." Joey said softly. He watched the root limbs of the Pumpkinhead shifting minutely on the floor. "Is it dead?"

"Not exactly." Dean shook his head and looked over his shoulder. He stood and hefted the axe as the head rolled on its own to face him, the flames inside of it whooshing up into the half-light. At the same moment an agonized cry went up from outside. "What the hell is that?"

"Oh my god!" Joey stood in a rush. "No way! Is that…" He didn't finish the sentence and tore off out of the room.

"Joey! Joey, dammit!" Dean called after him and growled. "Why does no one ever listen to us?" He slapped Sam's face lightly. "Need you to wake up now, dude." He got no response and instead rubbed his knuckles harshly along Sam's sternum. It had the desired effect as Sam groaned, face crinkling in discomfort and finally his eyes opened. "Hey, little brother."

"Dean?" Sam blinked blurry eyes and tried to focus on him.

"No time to be gentle here." Dean took his arm and pulled him up so he was sitting. "Something's going on outside. There was a scream and Joey took off after it."

"Dammit." Sam sighed. "Ok. Get me up."

Dean used his arm to pull him with him as he stood and wrapped both arms around Sam as he swayed and finally dropped his head onto his shoulder. "No passing out, Sammy." He warned the top of his head.

"I'm…I'm good." Sam made himself lift his head and even got his legs moving much to his surprise. "We gotta save him, Dean."

"We'll try." Dean kept his eyes on the remains of the Pumpkinhead as he led Sam to the doors and figured it was probably too late already for Joey but Sam didn't need to hear that.

Sam let his head droop forward, unable to keep it up with the way the ground was spinning beneath him. He found he had to concentrate on not throwing up all over his brother. It was a losing battle. "Dean…"

"What?" Dean looked down at Sam. "Whoa!" He danced back a step as Sam leaned forward and heaved his guts out in the hall. "Not on the boots, dude!" He held on to Sam until the episode passed. "Sammy?"

"Guh…yeah." Sam leaned back, grateful for Dean's arm holding him up. "Sorry."

Dean worried at the severity of Sam's obvious concussion, that it had worsened with his impact with the wall. "Ok. How about I drop you here and go check on Joey myself?"

"No. No, I'm good. I can do this." Sam determinedly shoved his legs under him and stood, taking most of his weight from Dean. "Come on. We have to…have to hurry."

"Stubborn." Dean groaned but started them down the hall again. "Maybe you can puke on Pumpkinhead and scare him off."

"Not…funny." Sam squinted as the front door of the Mill came in sight and the late daylight filtered into the hall. They staggered toward it and out onto the deck. The sight that met them stopped them cold.

"Son of a bitch." Dean breathed. At the end of the deck Joey lay on his back staring up at the thing perched on the rail, towering menacingly above him. "I'll be damned." The thing that stopped them was who it was. It was Terri. His long dark hair, freed of the beanie he'd left behind in the forest moved in the breeze around a face that was quickly changing; becoming misshapen and starting to resemble the Pumpkinhead. Flames danced in his eyes. He was taller than he had been when they'd last seen him. His body had seemingly elongated giving him an unnatural appearance and the look on his face as stared down at Joey was nothing short of murderous. A ring of fire circled his neck and dripped blood down his chest as though a mirror of what Dean had done to the creature inside.

"Guess we know…who it's tethered too." Sam said softly and felt a pang of sorrow for Cammie who'd never had a chance. He groaned, knowing what they would have to do now. Terri was no longer completely human and that took him off the 'protected' list. "I'll distract him. You get around behind him."

"Sam." Dean said warningly but Sam pulled his arm back and stood unsteadily on his own.

"You have to. I can't." Sam stared at him and willed him to agree.

Dean huffed out an angry breath after a moment and nodded. "Fine." He slapped Sam's arm. "But if you get dead I'm kickin' your ass." He hefted the axe and slipped off the side of the deck and out of sight.

Sam stumbled forward and raised his hands as Terri's disturbing, flame-filled eyes rose to look at him. "Terri. What's going on?" He closed the distance between them until he was beside Joey. "Whatever it is that drove you to this, there's a better way." Sam bumped the toe of his boot against Joey's shoulder. "Get up." He hissed. Joey scrambled to his feet and Sam took his arm, shoving him behind him. "You're killing your friends, Terri."

"Not my friends." Terri's voice sounded like it had been dragged over gravel and dragged up screaming. "Playthings."

"This isn't you talking, Terri." Sam took a step closer and gave Joey a shove behind him to get him further away.

Terri let loose a hoarse scream and shot his arms out, wrapping gnarled hands around Sam's throat and pulling him closer to glare down at him. "You can't stop the Pumpkinhead. He's coming."

"Gah…Terri." Sam struggled in his grip and tried to get his fingers under the hands that felt like an iron band around his neck. He gasped in a breath. "Terri think! Why? Why did you do this?" He knew he needed to keep him talking and distracted.

Terri grinned at him. "There is no why. This…is fun." He took one hand from Sam and ran it over his own, still changing face. "Cammie wanted a film. Something…gripping." He slapped his hand back to Sam's throat as he struggled and lifted him until only his toes touched the deck. He threw his head back and laughed. "Think this is gripping enough?"

"Joey!" Sam gasped and sucked in another breath. "Joey…run!"

There was a sudden commotion behind them followed by a long, low howl that carried out into the trees. Sam managed to wrench his head around enough to see out of the corner of his eye and felt Joey put a hand on his back. The Pumpkinhead burst through the wall in a spray of wood. It's head was once more where it belonged and it screamed out at them and stretched its arms wide into the fading light of the day.

Terri leaned forward into Sam's face and tightened his grip. "Time to die."

"I don't think so." Dean rose up behind Terri and brought the axe around as he turned, taking Sam with him.

Sam choked as Terri's hands tightened around his neck and cut off his air and then his head was falling away as his body crumpled and Sam crumpled with him. When he expected to hit the deck hard, he instead landed on something soft and looked up to find Joey holding on to him.

"Sam?" Dean hopped down off the railing and came to them. He unwound Terri's over-long fingers from his brother's neck and grimaced. "Dude. You breathing?" The bruising was going to be spectacular.

Sam nodded. "What about…" He asked in a rough voice and raised a hand back toward the mill.

"Stay put." Dean patted his shoulder and rose to cross the deck. The Pumpkinhead had fallen to its knees. Its hands were planted on the deck and its head hung low between its shoulders. As Dean neared, it raised that head to peer up at him. Dean stared into the flaming eyes and frowned. The expression on the creature's face was something close to…relief. The Pumpkinhead fell forward into the wood. Dean danced back a step as it began to dissolve. Its body disintegrated before his eyes. "Huh. That's new."

"Dean?" Joey called as Sam rolled to his side with a hand around his neck. "I think Sam needs help."

Dean whipped back and jogged back, sliding to his knees beside his brother. "Sammy? You don't sound so good, buddy." Sam was wheezing in air and coughing.

Sam looked up at him with a disgusted face. "Throat…hurts." He rolled his eyes. "Dumbass."

Dean snorted a laugh and sat him up so he was leaning against his knee. He looked over at Joey and smiled. "Thanks, man." He meant it.

Joey shrugged and stood. He felt numb now that it was over. "Do you think…" He stopped and took a breath. "Do you think, maybe, Cammie's out there somewhere?"

Dean met the sorrowful look in Sam's eyes and sighed before looking up at the kid. "No. There was too much blood in the kitchen, dude. She's gone. I'm sorry." He turned his attention back to Sam. "You don't start breathing better here quick, kiddo we're going to a hospital."

Sam shook his head. "I'm fine." He had to cough and clear his throat as the words had come out in a whisper. "Fine. I'm fine." He looked back over his brother's shoulder. "Is it dead?"

Dean grinned. "Never say my love of B-movies doesn't pay off."

Sam laughed and the laughter turned into a cough leaving him weak enough to not blush or argue when Dean pulled him in against his shoulder.

"Breathe, Sam. Just breathe." Dean coached and held on to him while he worked at it.

"So…what now?" Joey finally looked over at what was left of Terri and grimaced. "What…what happens now?"

"Salt, burn and we get you back to civilization." Dean pulled Sam's head up. His breathing had settled somewhat. "Stay here. Keep surfer boy company." He eased Sam forward so he was sitting on his own and stood. "I'm gonna torch Mr. Wonderful here."

Sam nodded. "Be careful."

Dean rolled his eyes and then bent to the grizzly task of collecting Terri's severed head. He tossed it over the rail out into the grass and bent again, grabbing a leg and hauling him over the side as well.

Joey knelt next to Sam and did his best not to watch. "Are you really alright?"

"Yeah, Joey." Sam smiled for him and then scowled at the sight of Dean's blood spattered back. His shirt was stiff with it and Sam could see him hunching as he pulled the body further from the building. "I'm sorry this happened to you and your friends."

Joey let his head fall, unable to stop the tears. "I thought he was good people. We all did. Man were we stupid."

"Not stupid, Joey." Sam patted his knee awkwardly. "You couldn't have known."

Dean piled deadwood on top of Terri's partially transformed body and head. It was dry and brittle enough he didn't need to go after the lighter fluid. He pulled out his zippo and spun the wheel, sparking the flame to life. "Rest in peace, jackass." He tossed the lighter and smiled in satisfaction as the fire crackled to life and the flames grew and spread through the tinder and to the body. He straightened his back, grimacing through the pain from the wounds and turned his back on Terri and the Pumpkinhead.

He found Sam and Joey where he'd left them. Sam waved a hand wearily at him as he climbed back on to the deck. "How you feeling?"

Sam smiled. "At least as good…as your back. Joey." He put out an arm and Joey tugged him to his feet. "Lemme…let me look."

"Dude you can barely stand." Dean argued. "It's not that bad."

"Daylight's fading, Dean." Sam took firm hold of the back of Dean's shirt. "Sooner you let me…look, the sooner we can…can get out of here." It irritated him that he was still having to gasp in air through a tight throat.

"Oh for cryin' out loud." Dean shook his arms out in frustration but turned to let him look.

Dean was right. The marks weren't bad or deep. They were shallow and had even stopped bleeding but needed cleaning. "There's bits of….of bark or something in a couple of these." He let Dean's shirt drop. "Have to pick em out…at the motel."

"Awesome." Dean readjusted his shirt. "Let me get our packs and then can we get the hell out of here please? I've had enough nature for a while."

Sam smirked. "Works for me." He turned and watched Terri burn with Joey until Dean came back out a few minutes later. The sun had finally dipped behind the mountains and the bonfire lit up the early evening with a warm glow.

"Saddle up kids." Dean tossed Joey's pack to him and shouldered Sam's with his own.

"Dude, give me the packs." Sam tugged them off his back as Dean winced. "My back's just bruised, not torn up." He pulled them on his shoulder and started off. He wove to his left suddenly and Dean was there grabbing his arm, pulling him straight. "I can manage." He argue and rolled his eyes for patience when Joey slid in under his other shoulder.

"How about we make sure you don't wobble off a cliff on the way back?" Dean chuckled and got them moving again.

Night had long fallen by the time they reached the rest spot and the familiar bulk of the Impala waiting peacefully for them beneath the lone street light. "There's my baby." Dean said fondly.

Joey smiled. "You weren't kidding." He told Sam, having been told while they walked about the car and Dean's…deep love of her.

"Come on, surfer boy." Dean waved a hand to the sleek black beauty of a car. "Get you somewhere warm in no time."

Joey stepped away from Sam as they reached the car and shook his head. "No, I…I think I'll walk." He stared out into the mountains. "No offense guys I mean, you saved my ass." He looked back at them and managed a smile. "I just…I need time you know? To process this or whatever."

"You sure, dude?" Dean asked and pulled the passenger door open for Sam. "It's getting cold out here."

"Yeah. Yeah I'm good." Joey took Dean's hand and shook it and did the same for Sam. "Thank you. Really."

Sam watched him walk off down the road into the darkness. "You think he'll be ok?"

"We ganked the monster movie bad guy. He'll be fine. Come on." Dean turned and helped Sam fold himself down into the seat. His back had begun to steadily stiffen with the bruising as they'd hiked and even Sam's stoicism had been tested; the occasional grunt of pain escaping him.

He went around the car ignoring the way his own back and climbed into the car. Dean sighed happily and turned the key, rumbling the engine to life. He cranked the heater up to chase off the chill and smiled. He glanced over at Sam squirming for a comfortable position and chuckled. "Should have gotten in the back seat like I told you, dumbass."

Sam glared over at him as he leaned forward over the dash. The glare changed to a smirk. He waited until Dean pulled them out onto the road and accelerated. Sam turned as fast as he was able and swung his legs up on the seat, stretching them out across Dean's lap. He rested his back against the door and sighed happily.

"Dammit. NOT what I mean, genius!" Dean slapped at his legs but they stubbornly remained. He rolled his eyes and looked back to the road. "You're paying for this soon as we stop you realize?"

Sam chuckled and closed his eyes as the position took some much needed pressure off his bruised back. "Worth it." He croaked and coughed a few times. He opened his eyes after a moment and looked over at his brother. "Hey, Dean?"

"What?" Dean sent him a frosty glare.

Sam waited a moment for effect. "Can I have a footrub?"

"Oh that's it!" Dean growled while Sam broke into laughter. He swerved the car to the side of the road and parked.

"Dean?" Sam started to yank his legs back but Dean was faster, wrapping an arm around both Sam's legs below his knees and he held on with a steely grip. He pulled more strongly trying to free himself as his brother tugged one of his sneakers off. "Dean! Dean, don't! Dammit, Dean I swear…GAH!" Whatever threat he'd been about to make was lost on a laughing shout as his foot wad viciously tickled until finally Dean released him.

"Rule number three, Sammy." Dean turned and grinned at him, raising his brows. Sam only flipped him off and Dean cracked his knuckles. "Rule number three or we're goin' for round two."

Sam rolled his eyes and groaned. "Don't screw with the driver." He dead-panned and readjusted himself so he was leaning against the door with his shoulder.

Dean nodded cheerfully and pulled back onto the road. Rule number one let him pick the music. Rule number two ensured that sneaky little brothers didn't swipe from his plate ever again. He grinned and flipped on the radio, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel to Paradise City.

"You have issues, dude." Sam snorted and shook his head. The impromptu wrestling match had done no good for his back or his neck but it had lifted his spirits. He bounced his head carefully along with the music and decided the job hadn't gone all that badly after all.

"Dude. We hunted Pumpkinhead." Dean said suddenly and grinned over at him. "Bet that one's not in Dad's journal."

Sam laughed softly and rested his head back. "He'll be jealous."

Dean nodded and reached over the backseat. He pulled his jacket up front and gave it a practiced twitch, settling it over Sam before looking back to the road. "Get some sleep, princess."

"Bite me, Dean." Sam said cheerily and closed his eyes again to the sound of Dean's tapping, Paradise City, the comforting rumble of the Impala and the smells of leather and gun oil.

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_The End._


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